The Department of Health and Social Care (DHSC) will invest up to £10 million in UK businesses and academics who work in conjunction with Chinese scientists to advance work on antimicrobial resistance (AMR). The fund is to support the development and, where appropriate, clinical evaluation of new products or services, which must be of value in addressing the threat from AMR.

Innovate UK will deliver the funding to UK researchers (£750,000) and The Chinese Ministry of Science and Technology will invest up to 60 million Renminbi (RMB) to fund the project. Projects can last up to 3 years.

UK applicants must demonstrate that projects are primarily and directly relevant to the needs of people in low and middle income countries (LMICs), including China, as defined by the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD). There must be a clear economic and societal benefit to LMICs from their proposed project. The competition will open on 3 April 2018 (Innovation Funding Service)

Researchers at De Montfort University, Leicester reviewed the literature on domestic laundering of hospital uniforms. An earlier study (2015) also at De Montfort, which included 265 healthcare staff from across disciplines and in a range of roles (nurses, healthcare assistants, ward clerks, housekeepers, and physiotherapists) completed a questionnaire. It showed 43.7% laundered their uniforms below the 60°C recommended by the Department of Health; a third (33%) washed them at 40°C and 5% at 30°C. Around a quarter of the staff sampled also revealed that they wore their uniform for two or more shifts before washing it, longer than the recommended wash after every shift (via Nursing Times).

In a laboratory experiment, the scientists repeated the staff’s most common laundering practices (derived from the 2015 study), and assessed the survival of Staphylococcus aureus and Escherichia colion cotton and polyester fibres (Riley et al, 2017). The data showed that both bacteria were able to survive on polyester for up to seven days and on cotton for up to 21 days.

For the authors this raises the question of the storage of dirty uniforms at home, especially with regard to potential cross-contamination with surfaces in the home environment. They also experimented to find if cross-contamination occurred in the wash, including sterile samples with the uniforms. Washing at 40˚C did remove most micro-organisms, but the cells that were left were in excess of 1,000, and similar numbers had been transferred to the sterile items. This highlights the risk that other items of clothing in the home could become contaminated, or that domestically laundered uniforms could re-contaminate the home and/or healthcare environment.

Antibiotic Research UK (ANTRUK) believe that the over-occupancy affecting hospitals across the country makes transmitting deadly bacteria easier. They also air concerns that a scarcity of nurses means staff will simply be too busy to notice the poor levels of cleanliness that encourage bugs thrive. ANTRUK is reminding patients and visitors to be vigilant and report incidents of improper cleaning to complaint bodies like Patient Advice and Liaison Service (PALS) (via ANTRUK).

Professor Colin Garner, Chief Executive of ANTRUK remarked that “we need the Government, medical research organisations, the pharmaceutical
industry and the public to work together to develop new but effective medications,
fast. And while we wait for that to happen, we must do everything in our power to
prevent the spread of bacterial infections – especially in our hospitals.”